Annex II Marine Species

The Annex II species
considered to be marine are listed below. In order to avoid the
inclusion of freshwater SACs designated for anadromous/catadromous
fish species, sea lamprey, allis shad and twaite shad need to be
associated with marine areas (within the SAC) for the site in which
they are found to be defined as a ‘SAC with a marine
component’.

This also applies to otters, as some
SACs contain qualifying otter populations which are either not
reliant on the marine environment, or are reliant on marine areas
outside SAC boundaries.

Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) is not
included in this list as it is very rare in UK waters; as such its
conservation through SAC designation is currently considered
inappropriate. Equally, the loggerhead turtle (Caretta
caretta)is
considered to be a vagrant in UK waters and therefore SACs
will not be designated for this species.

For four
of these species the European Commission has stated that
additional SACs must be explored. JNCC and the country conservation
agencies are further investigating the possibilty of designating
additional sites in waters away from the coast. Five marine
SACs for harbour porpoise have been designated in Northern Ireland,
Welsh and English inshore/offshore waters, joining the site
designated in Scottish waters. These join the Skerries and Causeway
SAC which records harbour porpoise as a qualifying feature of the
site.